Circle of Security Parenting (COS-P) is a parenting intervention for caregivers of a child between 4 months and 6 years coping with adversity. It is delivered by a single practitioner to groups of 8 to 15 parents/carers through 8 to 10 two-hour sessions. During these sessions, parents are guided to reflect on their own experiences of parenting and learn strategies for responding sensitively to the needs of their child.
The information above is as offered/supported by the intervention provider.
3 to 5 years old
Group
Circle of Security Parenting (COS-P) is one of three interventions currently available through Circle of Security International. COS-P offers group-based support to at-risk parents with a child between 4 months to 6 years. This includes but is not limited to parents (mothers and fathers, sometimes couples together), foster carers and childcare providers. COS-P can also be delivered as a targeted-indicated intervention to parents coping with substance misuse issues or perinatal depression.
COS-P is delivered by a single practitioner to groups of between 8 to 15 parents/carers through 8 to 10 two-hour sessions.
COS-P is based on attachment theory and aims at helping parents reflect on their own attachment experiences and thus reduce their negative mental attributions to the child’s normal attachment-seeking behaviours. Parents are then expected to be in a better position to provide a secure base which fosters attachment security.
At each session, core concepts are reinforced through discussions aimed at helping parents consider:
The COS-P content is delivered through ‘chapters’ which begin with a 15-minute video clip that is viewed and discussed in the group during each session. The clips are of child–parent interactions, as well as of previous COS-P participants reflecting on what they learned about their own parenting from COS-P. The video indicates where to pause, what to discuss, and how to help parents consider their own parenting, as does the intervention manual.
4 months to 6 years
Parents living in disadvantaged communities
Disclaimer: The information in this section is as offered/supported by the intervention provider.
Science-based assumption
Attachment security lays the foundation for children to develop positive expectations of themselves and others
Attachment security is thought to support children’s emotional development in a way that reduces the risk of future mental health problems.
Science-based assumption
Sensitive parent–child interactions increase the likelihood of children developing secure attachment relationships
Sensitive parenting is supported by their ability to form positive representations of their child.
Science-based assumption
A parent’s attachment history can negatively impact their representations of their child
Negative representations of the child increase the risk of an insecure attachment.
Intervention
Parents are supported to reflect on their attachment history
Parents are supported to form positive representations of themselves and their child
Parents are coached to respond sensitively to their child’s needs.
Short-term
Parents develop positive representations of their child
Parents are less likely to have negative representations of their child
Parents become more sensitive and attuned to their child’s needs.
Medium-term
Improved parent–infant interaction
Reduced risk of the child developing an insecure attachment.
Long-term
Children develop positive expectations of themselves and others
Children are at less risk of future mental health problems
Children are at less risk of child maltreatment.
Parents with a child between 4 months and 6 years who is at risk of an insecure attachment. Risk factors include economic disadvantage, parental mental health problems, and parental substance misuse problems.
Circle of Security Parenting is delivered in 8 to 10 sessions of 1.5 to 2 hours’ duration each to groups of 8 to 15 caregivers.
Practitioners use video segments to facilitate reflective discussions about caregivers’ attachment experiences – more specifically:
Parents also receive advice on improving their attunement with the infant or child.
COS-P practitioners typically have a master’s qualification or higher in a helping profession, such as social work, psychology, or family therapy.
Practitioners complete a four-day intervention training. Booster training of practitioners is not required.
Supervision is not required, but opt-in supervision arrangements (known as ‘fidelity coaching’) are available. In supervision sessions, practitioners reflect on their experiences leading the sessions.
Intervention fidelity is maintained through the following processes:
Organisation: Connected Lives
Email address: Info@circleofsecurityinternational.com
Website: https://www.connectedlives.org.uk/cos-p-fidelity-coaching
www.circleofsecurity.org
*Please note that this information may not be up to date. In this case, please visit the listed intervention website for up to date contact details.
COS-P’s most rigorous evidence comes from a single RCT conducted in the United States that is consistent with Foundations’ Level 2+ evidence strength criteria.
This study observed statistically significant improvements in independent observations of COS-P children’s inhibitory response (a form of self-regulation) during an independent play task compared to children not receiving the intervention. Additionally, COS-P mothers were observed to provide fewer unsupportive responses to their child’s distress compared to mothers not receiving the intervention.
| Identified in search | 3 |
| Studies reviewed | 1 |
| Meeting the L2 threshold | 1 |
| Meeting the L3 threshold | 0 |
| Contributing to the L4 threshold | 0 |
| Ineligible | 2 |
| Study design | RCT |
| Country | United States |
| Sample characteristics | 164 mothers, with children between 3 and 5 years old, where families were enrolled in a Head Start centre in the US |
| Race, ethnicities, and nationalities |
|
| Population risk factors |
|
| Timing |
|
| Child outcomes | Improved inhibitory control (expert observation of behaviour) |
| Other outcomes | Improved maternal response to child distress (parent report) |
| Study rating | 2+ |
| Citations | Cassidy, J., Brett, B. E., Gross, J. T., Stern, J. A., Martin, D. R., Mohr, J. J. & Woodhouse, S. S. (2017) Circle of Security–Parenting: A randomized controlled trial in Head Start. Development and Psychopathology. 29 (2), 651–673. |
The following studies were identified for this intervention but did not count towards the intervention’s overall evidence rating. An intervention receives the same rating as its most robust study or studies.
Gray, S. A. (2015) Widening the Circle of Security: A quasi‐experimental evaluation of attachment‐based professional development for family child care providers. Infant Mental Health Journal. 36 (3), 308–319.
Haugaard, K. & De Lopez, K. J. (2015) Testing the efficacy of Circle of Security–Parenting programme with Danish at-risk career mothers: A pilot randomized controlled trial. International Attachment Conference.
Horton, E. & Murray, C. (2015) A quantitative exploratory evaluation of the Circle of Security-Parenting Program with mothers in residential substance-abuse treatment. Infant Mental Health Journal. 36 (3), 320–336.
Kamal, L., Strand, J., Jutengren, G. & Tidefors, I. (2017) Perceptions and experiences of an attachment-based intervention for parents troubled by intimate partner violence. Clinical Social Work Journal. 45 (4), 311–319.
Kohlhoff, J., Stein, M., Ha, M. & Mejaha, K. (2016) The Circle of Security Parenting (COS-P) intervention: Pilot evaluation. Australian Journal of Child and Family Health Nursing. 13 (1), 3.
McMahon, C., Huber, A., Kohlhoff, J. & Camberis, A. L. (2017) Does training in the Circle of Security framework increase relational understanding in infant/child and family workers? Infant Mental Health Journal. 38 (5), 658–668.
Page, T. & Cain, D. (2010) A pilot application of the Circle of Security parenting intervention to child welfare-involved mothers. Poster presentation at the Society for Social Work and Research Fourteenth Annual Conference.
Rennie, K. D. (n.d.) The effects of the ‘Circle of Security Parentin’” group intervention on a community sample of parents of 1 to 3-year-olds (Unpublished master’s thesis, New South Wales Institute of Psychiatry, New South Wales, Australia).
Risholm Mothander, P. R., Furmark, C. & Neander, K. (2018) Adding ‘Circle of Security–Parenting’ to treatment as usual in three Swedish infant mental health clinics: Effects on parents’ internal representations and quality of parent-infant interaction. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. 59 (3), 262–272.
Note on provider involvement: This provider has agreed to Foundations’ terms of reference (or the Early Intervention Foundation's terms of reference), and the assessment has been conducted and published with the full cooperation of the intervention provider.
Rated 1: Set up and delivery is low cost, equivalent to an estimated unit cost of less than £100.
Rated 2: Set up and delivery is medium-low cost, equivalent to an estimated unit cost of £100–£499.
Rated 3: Set up and delivery is medium cost, equivalent to an estimated unit cost of £500–£999.
Rated 4: Set up and delivery is medium-high cost, equivalent to an estimated unit cost of £1,000–£2,000.
Rating 5: Set up and delivery is high cost. Equivalent to an estimated unit cost of more than £2,000.
Set up and delivery cost is not applicable, not available, or has not been calculated.
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Supporting children’s mental health and wellbeing: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient.
Preventing child maltreatment: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient.
Enhancing school achievement & employment: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient.
Preventing crime, violence and antisocial behaviour: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient.
Preventing substance abuse: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient.
Preventing risky sexual behaviour & teen pregnancy: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient.
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Rated 2: Has preliminary evidence of improving a child outcome from a quantitative impact study, but there is not yet evidence of causal impact.
Rated 2+: Meets the level 2 rating and the best available evidence is based on a study which is more rigorous than a level 2 standard but does not meet the level 3 standard.
Rated 3: Has evidence of a short-term positive impact from at least one rigorous study.
Rated 3+: Meets the level 3 rating and has evidence from other studies with a comparison group at level 2 or higher.
Rated 4: Has evidence of a long-term positive impact through at least two rigorous studies.
Rated 4+: Meets the level 4 rating and has at least a third study contributing to the Level 4 rating, with at least one of the studies conducted independently of the intervention provider.
Rating has a *: The evidence base includes mixed findings i.e., studies suggesting positive impact alongside studies, which on balance, indicate no effect or negative impact.
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